In this section you will be able to read more about the following:

Infections due to complement deficiencies - a general introduction

Assessment of complement deficiencies

Complement deficiencies predispose to an increased susceptibility to infection, in particular caused by Neisseria meningitidis, and to a minor extent by Streptococcus pneumonia and Haemophils influenza. It is therefore of utmost importance to assess the presence of these deficiencies, especially when the patient has experienced recurrent infections.

Autoimmune disease monitoring - a general introduction

Autoimmune disease monitoring - how to use complement testing results

Analysis of complement in autoimmune disease is important for the diagnosis and monitoring particularly in SLE where increased activation of the classical pathway is a typical finding. Also in several other autoimmune diseases increased complement activation is seen.

Complement testing in angioedema and hemolytic anemia

aHUS

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a very rare, life-threatening disease of genetic origin. Although the symptoms are similar, the underlying mechanism in aHUS is distinctly different from typical HUS, also called STEC-HUS, which is caused by infection of shiga toxin producing E. coli. aHUS accounts for ca 10% of all HUS cases and clear-cut diagnosis to distinguish between the two types is of greatest importance.